Week Two-Frost Museum of Science

Kids from Overtown Youth Center

Throughout this week I participated in numerous activities and several outreach programs including the gross bodies program and the MuVE initiative.  During the gross bodies program, I helped the facilitator make fake snot with 20 preschoolers.  We also showed the preschoolers how scabs are made using hershey’s chocolate, vaseline, and food coloring.  The purpose of the outreach was to demonstrate that although our bodies make some gross things, in the end these bodily processes benefit us.  During the MuVE (museum volunteers for the environment) initiative, I helped another intern,Eric, conduct a beach clean up for the Virginia Key restoration site where 45 kids from the Overtown Youth Center attended.  This experience was extremely eye opening as I helped underprivileged kids, who might not have ever been to the beach before, experience new things and make them aware about how pollution affects the environment. I also helped clean the supply closet and presented my environmental science program to the program manager.  In the next week, I will continue to develop the outreach program along with Eric so that it can eventually be used.  

Everglades National Park

Yesterday,my coworkers and I went to Lighthouse School for the Blind and helped the blind and visually impaired kids dissect squid.  The outreach was very inspirational because the kids were not only very enthusiastic about the dissection, but they never once let their visual disabilities hold them back.  Being able to participate in this experience was very humbling.  I ended this week by going to Everglades National Park along with 4 other coworkers for a training.  During our training we had a park ranger give us a guided tour and then we took a tram ride to the historic tower.  During our time at the park we spotted several animals including an American Alligator, a Blue Heron, some fish, and a Yellow Bellied Sliding Turtle.  I am extremely glad that I had the opportunity to visit Everglades National Park, because it was my first time visiting and I got to learn some interesting facts about the fragile ecosystem that the Everglades is and all the benefits it provides for the state of Florida.  During the training, I also became aware of when and how to use the phrase climate change when educating young children, teens, and adults.    

This week was filled with exciting outreach programs and I learned a copious amount about the amount of research and interpretation that goes into the information that is distributed to the museum audience.  My experiences this week have made me more aware of the different fields and opportunities available in science.  This week has been insightful, filled with laughter (because of my hilarious co-workers), and very exciting; I can’t wait to see what adventures next week brings.

Virginia Key

Preschoolers learning about scabs

Dissecting Squid